Community Medicine Abstracts - College of Medicine and Health ...

Project No. 189 (C-2001/2)Smoking Habit and Attitudes Among PHC Clinic Doctors in Al Ain MedicalDistrictStudent Authors: Aysha Ebrahem Moh'd Sultan Al-Dhaheri, Fatema Rashed KhamisAl-MansooriFaculty Supervisors: Dr. A. Carter, Dr. M. Newson-SmithAbstract:Objective To study the attitude of smoking and non-smoking doctors towards theirpatients who smoke among primary health care physicians in Al-Ain Medical District.Methods The study was conducted in primary health care clinics in Al-Ain medicaldistrict. The study targeted PHC Doctors exclusively. The questionnaires used in thisstudy were coded and entered in the computer of the Faculty of Medicine and HealthScience in the department of community medicine using SPSS program. This studywas designed as a across sectional survey among PHC doctors. The questionnaireswere distributed in the period from 18 to 25 January 2002. Descriptive analysis wasperformed on sociodemographic features. Categorical variables were analyzed usingChi square (x2) or Fisher's exact tests as appropriate.Results The prevalence rate of smokers among PHC doctors was 5.6% while theprevalence rate of ex-smokers was 17.8%. There was a significant difference ofsmoking prevalence between Male and Female PHC doctors when smokers and exsmokerswere combined. 32% of all males were found to be a smoker or ex-smokerwhile 12.2% of all females were found to be the same (P=0.028). 87% of the malestend to routinely find out from their patients whether they smoke or not while 59% ofthe females do the same (P=0.003). 86% of the smoking and ex-smoking doctorsbelieved that smoking among doctors in presence of patients has an effect on patient'sattitude towards smoking while 98% of the non-smoking doctors believe the same (P=0.039). 63% of the males in the study think that the effect of smoking amongdoctors in presence of patients would reduce patient's confidence in the treating doctorand adversely affect doctor-patient relationship while 34.1 % of females think thesame (P=0.009). 70% of the Arab and South Asian doctors think that the best way isto enforce no smoking rule for clinic staff while only 37% of the Sub-Saharan andWestern doctors think the same (P=0.009)Conclusion There was a low rate of smoking among PHC clinic doctors. Majoritybelieved that smoking among doctors in presence of patients has an effect on patients'attitude towards smoking. Certain aspects regarding smoking and ex-smoking doctorscouldn't be assessed due to the small percentage of them.